System for feeding leaf to a cigar making machine



O United States Patent 1111 3,542, [72] Inventors Harry Allison Hooper [56] References Cited iwarchmonthNeir York; C k m UNITED STATES PATENTS man", 1786542 121930 MacDonald 831 oni'mcanadaiFrmlmuemn' 353I971 12/1886 Rowden........ 131/12 s mchmndvirginia 817,254 4/1906 K0611 131/34x [2 1 pp 790,277 2,180,368 11/1939 11111168116161. 131/124 1 Wed Jan-10.11969 2,960,898 11/1960 Wheeler 131/34x [45] Patented Nov.24, 1970 FOREIGN PATENTS [73] Assignee American Machine 8: Foundry Company acorporationolNewjersey 25,398 5/1963 Germany 131/34 1,086,688 10/1967 01661131116111 131/123 [54] SYSTEM FOR FEEDING LEAF TO A CIGAR MAKING MACHINE 13 Claims, 5 Drawing Figs. [52] US. Cl 131/33, 83/1, 83/18, 83/23, 83/152, 83/161,13'1/125, 131/148, 131/149 [51] Int. Cl. A 24b 05/14, A240 01/04 [50] Field olSearch 131/34, 35,

36,105,l24,148,149,l25,123, 33;83/1,l7,18, 19, 20, 21, 23, 152, 161, 201.02, 201.08, (Meister) Primary Examiner-Samuel Koren Assistant Examiner-James H. Czerwonky Attorneys-George W. Price and Murray Schafier ABSTRACT: A method and apparatus for processing large volumes of tobacco leaf to form a roll or other container of a plurality of stretched, oriented leaf patches and for feeding the Painted/Nov. 24, 1970' 3,542,036

Sheet 1 013 INVEN'I'ORS HARRY ALLISON HOOPER BYFRANK HOLLENTON WARREN A. BRACKMANN W SE/ A QRNEY P atente d 24, 1970 Sheet v wE 2 P2 1. 5023C time 25% m2 25m u NE \wv kzwmmnu 0 lo 6 M958 1055 Foo. 9 ON ON 55:9; .0 wumnom a INVENTORS HARRY ALUSON HOOPER By FRANK HOLLENTON WARREN A. BRACK ANN Patented Nov. 24, 1970 Sheet INVENTORS i 1 SYSTEM ronrsnprno LEAF TOA CIGAR MAKlNG MACHINE This invention relates to a system of handling tobacco leaves and, in particular, to an improved method for the manufacture of cigars. a

At one: time, all cigars were made by hand. As economic circumstances gradually forced the mechanization of various processes, it was natural that manufacturer's'should demand thatthe machine made product be indistinguishable from that made by hand. This meant that practices which cost nothing when performed manually were carried over to the machine made product, even when this involved extra costs for machine parts and machine labor.

, By far the most costly'of 'such practices concerns the preparation of the inner and outer layers of leaf which are employed to wrap the loose core shapedtobacco known as the filler". The two layers being known as the binder"- and wrapper" respectively. t I

Owing to the peculiar shapes in which cigars are made, coupled with the custom of applying at least the outer layer in the form of a helical strip, the preparation of the leaf became a complex and time consuming job. Since the'layer of wrapper or binder must be applied tothe core smoothly, accurately and with as little waste as possible, it was always necessary to so prepare the essentially fl'at l'e af byremoving veins and imperfections and to geometrically develop it into complex shapes and forms adaptable for the helical wrapped result required. a U

These operations were mostly done by hand, in exactly the same manner as was done by. the handmade cigar maker, although it has now become customary to at least make the final shaping directlyon the cigar making machine.

The tobacco leaf is such that it grows with a coarse mid rib which is too large and woody to be employed in the binder or wrapper. Also, the'leaf grows symmetrically on either side of this mid rib from which subsidiary small veins branch off diagonally. The subsidiary veins are such that they produce quite a differenttextu re'on the underside of the leaf as comone side of the mid rib,'when compared with acigar wrapped them to the tobacco core or bunch for rolling. For this purpose, at least two cutting dies are mounted on a turret arranged to index about a vertical axis, one turret each being provided for the binder and wrapper respectively. Each cutting die is surrounded by a perforated surface, the perforations being connected to a source of vacuum. Reference is made, for example, to U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,255,772, 3,222,967, 3,187,756 and 3,152,497 which show cigar making machines of the type herein just described.

The machine operator sits in convenient proximity to the die turret, selects a portion of tobacco leaf from the book provided and examines it finally for holes, coarse veins or other imperfections and stretches it over the cutting die where it is held in stretched, creaseless formation by the vacuum applied via the perforations in the surface surrounding the die, care being taken to insure that the contour to be cut by the die will not include any imperfection. Having placed the leaf portion in position, the operator initiates one cycle of the cigar making machine which causes the turret to index to the next position where the leaf stretched over the die is finally cut out and forwarded to a transfer mechanism to be rolled about the shaped roll of tobacco filler. This same turret movement presents to the operator one of the other dies on the turret from which the cutout shape has been removed during a previous operation, the remainder of the leaf portion being suctionally held on the perforated table surround the die. This, the operator removes and either discards, or places over the die again in a new position, if, as frequently happens, sufficient leaf area remains to enable a whole binder of wrapper shape to be cut from the remainder.

From the foregoing description, it will be seen that the production of cigars is highly complex and still includes a goodly number of hand operations. Further, the final speed of production of the machine cigar maker is determined by the speed at which the operator can place the leaf portions over pared with-theu'ppersurface, the result'being that the areas of leaf on either side of: the mid rib are mirror images of each other. lt'follows that a cigar wrapped in a portion of leaf from a general pattern of vein markings, etc., whichis of opposite hand". Becausethis is very noticeable when cigars are stacked side-by-side,'in a carton or box, it is considered to be quite unacceptable. t a

Accordingly, it is the universal practice to continue the manual inspection and grading :of tobacco leaves. After or simultaneous with the inspection and'grading,'the operator splits a'll binder and wrapper leaves longitudinally by removing the unwanted c'ourse'midriband stacks the resulting two parts separately making booksl of half leaves of the two varieties. These "books are'stored, treated, if desired, and then transported to the cigar making factory.

When making cigars by hand, it is merely necessary to insure that cigars made from the twoleaf halves are not mixed,

since the maker can sort out right or left hand wrappers at will, but for machine made cigars the technical problems are such "that many of the machine elements must be made right or lefthan d according to which half of the leaf is to be used and in practice .separate machines are employed for the exclusive use ofthe two leaf portions. I I

While it has been of prime importance to simplify mechanisms and standardize cigar manufacture, it still remains very convenient to continue the old practice of separating the two halves of the leaves by removing the mid rib and booking the separate halves, each according'to its kind, the different books being sent to the appropriate machines.

- As mentioned above, cigar machines are designed to cut out the desired final shape for binders or wrappers on the machine itself and while the cut pieces are still under control, to apply tion of the leaf on the machine. This multiple handling of leaves and leaf parts is clearly unproductive.

it is, therefore, the prime object of this invention to provide a system in which the prestemming and prebooking of leaf is automated and integrated with an automatic feed for delivering leaf to the machine 'for producing finished cigars.

It is an object ofthis invention to avoid the multiple handling of tobacco leaves and leaf parts when producing cigars.

Itis an object of this invention to integrate the destemming and processing of leafinto suitable portions for wrapper and binder into a single operation, eliminating the multiple operations presently known.

-It is another object of this invention to provide a system wherein cigar making machines may be automatically fed with dle as if it were finished size.

Briefly, the present invention provides a multiple stage process in which the first stage contemplates a single operatiori wherein large volumes of tobacco leaves are sequentially destemmed and processed into contoured patches which are oriented and collected within a substantially continuous webbing (hereinafter sometimes referred to simply as booking) and a subsequent stage which contemplatesthe automatic feeding of booked patches directly from the web to the cigar making machine (hereinafter sometimes referred to simply as debooking). Additional stages wherein the booked patches may be stored, treated, transported, etc., are also intended by the present invention.

Hereinafter follows a detailed description of a specific form of apparatus from whichit is believed that the present invention can best be understood. The apparatus is illustrative of the invention and'while preferred at the present time, is not necessarily critical in its form. Nevertheless, the objectives and advantages enumerated will become apparent, as will others not yet mentioned, from the description in which reference is made to the attached drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of apparatus for booking patches in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a schematic view of the webbing employed to book patches and the patches contained therein;

FIG. 3 is a detailed schematic view of the apparatus shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a schematicview of the electrical operation of the apparatus of FIG. 2; and

FIG. 5 is a detailed schematic view of apparatus employed to feed booked patches to a cigar making machine.

In FIG. 1, there is generally depicted apparatus for booking" of leaf patches. A single operator sits before the machine with a supply of whole leaf resting on the shelf 12, and removes a leaf L and spreads it on the work table 14 simultaneously examining it for imperfections and establishing its vein orientation. The work table includes a contour hole 16 which is under the influence of a negative pressure (vacuum) through inlet 18.

As seen from FIG. 3, there is mounted beneath the work table 14 a suction box 20 having a perforated upper surface 22 which is pivoted at its forward end 24. The suction box 20 is maintained constantly with a negative pressure (vacuum) applied through an inlet 26. The box 20 is pivoted downwardly on command against the' upward bias of spring 28 by a solenoid actuator 30.

Located below the suction box 20 is a pedestal 32 on which is mounted a substantially endless roll of webbing 34, the web 36 of which extends upwardly over a roller 38 mounted at the read edge of the suction box 20. The upper run of the roller 38 is on a plane with the upper surface 22 so that the web 36 runs horizontally over the box 20. The web 36 extends forwardly of the box 20 and its end is attached to the core of a takeup roll 40 which is mounted on the end of a long pivoting arm 42. The core 40 is rotated by pulley connection with shaft of motor M1 to pull the web in the direction of the arrow A and to wind it about the takeup roll 40.

The web 36 is preferably porous of woven or felted textile material. Glass fiber fabric, chemically produced fibers, or even plastic or thin .woven materials, will also be suitable. A thin woven nylon" has been found to be most satisfactory for it is relatively strong, light in weight, easily rollable and is not affected by chemical reactions. Further, such material can be made of varying degrees of .porosity, thus simplifying the application of suction through it.

The work table itself is formed of a plurality of sealed layers through which the vacuum may be applied to the hole 16.

Mounted within the layers of the work table 14 is an endless band knife 44 which rotates transversely of the direction of movement of the web 36 by a constantly running motor M-2. The knife 44 is also mounted to reciprocate along the direction of movement of the web 36 as shown by arrow B by actuation of sector gear G by the air cylinder motor M3. The reciprocating movement of the knife. 44 passes it across the hole 16 formed in the work table 14 at the end of which movement a relaying mechanism 46 is tripped actuating release of air from cylinder M-3 and return of knife 44.

The hole 16 within the work table is contoured to a shape and dimension substantially equal to the shape and dimension of the wrapper or binder required for ultimate enveloping about a cigar filler core on an automatic cigar making machine. These shapes, of course, vary with each variety of cigar. Each shape is, as is well known, complex but well defined, having a particularly sized body, curved head end and curved tuck end.

As the operator stretches the leaf across the hole 16, the negative pressure or vacuum causes the leaf to further stretch taut and into the hole 16 so that it forms a disklike shape therein. Thereafter, the band knife 44 is caused to cross the hole 16, severing from the leaf a patch P. The severed patch, of course, will then have the specific contour of the hole 16. Once the patch P is severed from the leaf and relay 46 is tripped a relay 48 is actuated causing the negative pressure applied through the suction box 20 to suck the patch on to the web 36 which is thereafter moved or indexed by operation of the motor M-l. The patch which remains sucked to the web is subsequently carried the entire distance across the surface 22 of the box and is rolled and captured between the layers of the web 36 as the web is taken up on to the core 40. As the axis of the core 40 is made to overlie the surface of the box 22, the

patch remains constantly in the stretched shape condition in which it is out until it is firmly captured between the layers of webbing. Since the hole 16 and the axis of the takeup roll are both transverse to the movement of the belt, the successive patches P remain in fixed parallel orientation as well as in lateral displacement relative to each other. Thus is built up a bobbin reservoir 50 of a plurality of alined oriented, spaced patches.

Consequently, it will be seen that in a single operation a whole leaf is inspected, destemmed, cut into contoured patch, oriented in position, relative to other similarly formed patches, and also to the web on which it is deposited. The patches are deposited on a web in fixed orientation and in fully stretched condition where they are securely wound, in the exact position received with a cohesive easily handled bobbin.

Most importantly, this system provides for high speed operation since it is adaptable for successive repetitive recycling. In this manner, large volumes of leaf may be processed into even larger volumes of patches. Since there are no rotating turrets to index, or multiple successive sequential machine operations, the speed of the machine is largely dependent on the speed of the operator. The manipulation by the operator is not hampered by moving parts and he needs only wait for reciprocation of band knife 44 before manipulating the successive patch.

Complete details of the construction, operation and advantage of the embodiment shown here is contained in copending U.S. Pat. application, Ser. No. 790,278, filed Jan. 10, 1969, the disclosure of which is incorporated here by reference as if more fully set forth.

It will be seen that with this system the operator may hold the edges of the leaf at all times, even while the patch is being cut, so as to be able to move it to the next position expeditiously. When compared with the operation of the standard cigar making machine wrapper cutter, where the operator is compelled to relinquish all hold on the leaf while it is cut, because it must be indexed from the laying position and back again, the saving in time will be seen to be considerable.

The operator will repeat the sequence of events, cutting as many patches as possible from the leaf area on one side ofthc stem and, with a machine with a single opening as described here, will stack the remaining half leaf in an orderly fashion to be dealt with later, perhaps on the same machine, to avoid producing rolls of patches with right and left hand wrappers mixed.

The construction of the machine, lends itself to many applications, for example, the work table may be provided with two separate work stations winding the patches onto two separate rolls. Such work stations would be laterally spaced in conformity of the requirements for two separate flow channels but would still be within each access of the operator. Under these conditions, the operator would feed all the leaf on one side of the stem to one station, moving to the adjacent station when feeding leaf from the remaining side of the stem using a different foot switch for each channel. In this way, the opposite hand of booked rolls can be kept separate while handling the leaf once only and without stemming.

web for making the bobbin has an'advantage greater than mere ease of handling. The porosity of the web permits the contoured patch to be ventilated and moisturized with relative ease, thuspreserving the freshness of the tobacco and its suitability as wrapper or binder. Similarly, if agingor flavoring is required, the same may be-accomplished' during storage.

7 Use of the bobbin is' made, of course, in the subsequent stage which deals with.- the steps of feedingthe same to an'automatic cigar machinel-This stage contemplates the unwinding of the bobbin in sequence withrthepperation of the cigar mechanism for holding the patch during movement can also double as themeans for sensing its proper location and orientation for transfer to the machine. N'o manual handling or supervision of the operation is required.

The turret mechanism 80 comprises a pair of suction stations 82 and 84 located on the top face of a rotating suction box 86.'The suction box is rotated about a central axis 88 and is supplied with a negative pressure through inlet 90. At each station 82 and 84 there is located a die assembly comprising a suction chamber 92 in which is fitted a transfer head 94'which is shaped and dimensioned again to conform to the shape and dimension of the contoured patch. The transfer head 94 is adapted for vertical movement by being located at the end of a maker to presentto the maker stretched, oriented, contoured patches'which may be employed directly to the wrapper .as either wrapper or binder about a filler core.

Since the industry has a large investment in clgar making machines, it is preferred that thesystem beadapted to make use of these existing machines without extensive modification or rebuilding.- Accordingly, the specific embodiment showing the system is one which accomplishes this feature.

7 Referring to FIG. 5, the completely full bobbin 50 is mounted for free rotation on the end of apair of parallel holding arms 52 which is 'counterbiased upwardly by a spring mechanism 54. The bobbin abuts against the rounded edge 56 of a fixed suction box 58 which has its entire bottomface perforated as at 60.'T,he web 36extends from the bobbin 50 along rod 96 whichis vertically actuated. Located about the transfer head 94 is a knife 98 shapedto give the final exact dimension to the patch before it is rolled about the filter core.

As the patch P is carried by the web 36 into registration with the perforations in the face of chamber 74, the turret suction box 86 is rotated so that one die assembly is positioned at the receiving station 82 with its suction head 94 oriented to be congruent with the patch P. As the negative pressure in chamber 74 is stopped as explained above, the transfer head 94 is caused to rise to meet the now freed patch and because of the vacuum within the head 94, picks the patch from the web36 and adheres it to itself.

The transfer head 94 is elevated by a lever 100 located below'th'e end of rod 96 which lever is caused to pivot at the appropriate time.

The aforedescribed turret and die assembly is exactly the same as presently constructed in machines in use and as described in a number of the patents listed in the introduction hereto and further discussion is unnecessary. The only modification made to the existing machine thereforeis the provision of the lever 100 and its actuating means which was not required for normal manual operation. Subsequent to the transfer of the patch to the head 94, the turret is, of course,

maintained under a .constantnegative pressure (vacuum),

through vacuurn inlet 72'while the forward chamber 74 is maintained under an intermittent negative pressure (vacuum) through closed inlet 76. The negative pressure of forward chamber 74 isgenerally ,lessthan that-of the rearward chamber 170 due to the throttling action of the flap valve 68 open to both' chambers. Inlet 76'is selectively controlled by pneumatic transducer 78 and intermittently opens to the atmosphere to release the vacuum inthechamber74. When.

. Consequently, as the web 36 carries the patch P across the face of the box 58, it registers with the shaped perforations in chamber 74. Upon full registration all the perforations are blocked and the negative pressure in the forward chamber 74 is caused to increase, A predetermined pressure level in chamber 74 is sensed by a pneumatic transducer 78 which opens inlet 76 to the atmosphere to effectively nullify the application of vacuum to the chamber 74, releasing the patch located on its face from any influence of negative pressure thereby permitting its removal and transfer from the web to the cigar machine.-

It will, of course, be again appreciated that the stretched oriented and fixed arrangement of the patch within the bobbin and on the web is critical to its feeding to the cigar machine Because of. this, the simple expedient of having the suction caused to rotate presenting the patch to station 84 so that it may be finally out, and retransferred to therolling end of the cigar machine as is well known.

. U.S. Pat. application Ser. No. 790,302 filed herewith which is incorporated herein by reference as if more fully set forth.

The patch P delivered to the receiving station 82 can be likened to the leaf applied thereby a manual operator, except that it is contoured so as to decrease the amount of waste, is

automatically fed at greater speed than that obtainable by the operator and is free of any manual manipulation and/or supervision; Consequently, the cigar machine may be run at increasedspeeds and at decided savings of labor and material some importance for, generally, because of the complex nature of cigar making machines, they are usually located in plants situated in populous areas where the necessary skills may be found for their operation and maintenance. With such expensive machinery, it is highly desirable to run at least two shifts per day for economic reasons. It is becoming progressively more difficult to find people willing to do shift work and the elimination of the operator by this invention removes this difficulty for, as stated, the expensive cigar making machine with the aid of this invention may run unattended for long periods of time.

Of course, the wrappers have to be made somewhere, but

the machinery necessary according to this invention is comparatively inexpensive, removing the incentive for multiple shift operation, while the locale of this operation may be in areas where there is not such a demand for labor, much less skill is required for maintenance, etc.

It will thus be observed that the present invention provides a system and method for automating cigar manufacture and provides a direct operation with minimum labor, etc. for handling raw leaf and for processing and feeding the same to the cigar maker. The various objectives and advantages and details of the present invention were described with reference to specific apparata. This was done for illustrative purposes only. lt is intended that the scope of this invention not be limited by the specific embodiments disclosed herein.

We claim: I

l. A method for supplying to a cigar making machine leaf in the form of wrapper or binder for enveloping filler cores comprising the steps of stretching a succession of tobacco leaves, preparing from each of said stretched tobacco leaves a plurality of stretched and shaped patches conforming substantially to the contour required for enveloping said core, maintaining the stretched condition of said patches, storing said patches in stretched successively oriented condition between the layers of a substantially endless web, feeding said web to the cigar making machine, successively removing the stretched patches from said web and successively delivering the patches while maintaining their stretched condition to receiving stations of said cigar machine for delivery to said filler cores for enveloping the same.

2. The method according to claim 1 including the step of substantially simultaneously inspecting said leaf, stretching said leaf and cutting said leaf into said patches having a shape adapted for helical wrapping about the filler core.

3. The method according to claim 2 wherein said inspection, stretching and cutting of said leaf is accomplished while placing said leaf under control of suction.

4. The method according to claim 1 including the step of orienting said patches on said web in spaced parallel relationship with their longitudinal axes transverse to the longitudinal axis of said web. I

5. The method according to claim 4 including the step of rolling said web into a bobbin.

6. The method according to claim 5 wherein said cigar making machine includes an infeed turret adapted to receive contoured leaf, and including the step of, delivering the patches under vacuum to said infeed turret.

7. A system for automatically processing and feeding tobacco leaf to a cigar making machine for enveloping about filler cores comprising, means for holding a portion of a tobacco leaf in a stretched extended position, means for cutting from said stretched portion of said leaf a stretched patch shaped for enveloping said core, means for transferring said stretched patch while maintaining its stretched condition to an elongated flexible supporting surface, means for maintaining said patches stretched and in a fixed position on said surface, means for feeding said surface to the infeed of a cigar making machine, means for successively removing said stretched patches while maintaining their stretched condition from said surface and means for delivering said patches to a filler core for wrapping thereabout.

8. The system according to claim 7 wherein said flexible supporting surface is a separable web and is adapted to contain a plurality of said patches, said surface being adapted for storage for a period of time during which said patches may be maintained as cut. 9. The system according to claim 8 wherein said flexible supporting surface is a porous web and wherein said means for holding a portion of said leaf in a stretched fixed position and said means for transferring said stretched patch to and from said porous web comprises a negative pressure.

10. The system according to claim 9 including means for orienting said patches on said web in fixed spaced relationship.

11. The system according to claim 10 including means for wrapping said porous web about itself to entrap said patches in their stretched condition between the layers thereof.

12. The system according to claim 10 wherein said means for feeding said porous web to 'said cigar makin machine includes a source of suction coupled to hold sai patch In its stretched condition on said web and wherein said means for removing said patch from said web also includes a source of suction coupled to maintain said patch.

13. In the automatic manufacture of cigars or the like the method of supplying an endless stream of leaf wrappers or binders comprising the steps of forming from stretched natural leaf tobacco a plurality of stretched patches conforming in shape to that required as wrapper or binder, storing said stretched patches while maintaining said stretched condition in a successive spaced and oriented stream, removing the stretched leading patch from said stored stretched patches while maintaining its stretched condition and feeding the same to a cigar machine. 

